Confiscations, imprisonment, and death having failed to purge the kingdom of heresy, the Cardinal of Lorraine suggested (in 1555) a new edict, by virtue of which all persons convicted of heresy by the ecclesiastical judges should be punished according to the magnitude of the crime without appeal, and proposed the appointment of Ory as “inquisitor of the faith in France;”[50] but bishops and Parliament alike protested against it. The magistrates were especially offended at having a court set over them, before which they were liable to be tried. President Seguier remonstrated to the Council in language worthy of the occasion: “We abhor the establishment of a tribunal of blood, where secret accusation takes the place of proof; where the accused is deprived of every natural means of defense, and where no judiciary form is respected. Commence, Sire, by giving the nation an edict which will not cover your kingdom with burning piles, or be wetted with the tears and blood of your faithful subjects.” He suggested that instead of employing fire and sword to establish and extend religion, they should try the same means that had been employed to found it, namely, “the revival of pure doctrine, combined with the exemplary lives of the clergy.” Henry received the advice courteously, and the edict was not enforced. It might be supposed that there was little to choose between the Inquisition and the Chambres Ardentes; but the difference was vital. From the sentence of the Inquisition, which derived its authority from the Holy See, there could be no appeal. Its victims were handed over to the secular arm, and not even the king had power to come between them and death.[51] But it was a fundamental principle of the French law that the king alone, as supreme head of the state, had the power of life and death over the subjects of the state; and that all appeals should be heard and decided by lay judges.[52] In the next reign we shall find the great Chancellor L’Hôpital declaring the edict of Romorantin with all its harshness and restrictions to be more merciful than any copy of the Spanish tribunals of blood could be.